First Merrit Acquires Midwest bank NASDAQ:MBHI purchased by NASDAQ:FMER Yet FirstMerrit isn't assuming the debts?

ÿþ<object width="960" height="745"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xR3uzy73qbw&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xR3uzy73qbw&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="960" height="745"></embed></object>I guess I just don't understand this " Aquisition or Merger " when a bank is acquired the shares are transferable but I am not seeing that with this one.  All the other failed banks received a bounce but this is a deep freeze and the hurt is now on FirstMerit Bank shares and its plunging.  I don't think they can cover any of the debts and the shares are now getting hammered.  Its like a death spiral here for both these banks and like a idiot I am trapped in a ship with no captain at the helm headed for a ice berg . I wish I knew friday that this was not a penny stock and was going to be halted.  Its the last thing I needed. And a loss I just can't sustain.

US regulators seize Midwest Bank and Trust of Ill

(Reuters) - Regulators seized four more banks on Friday, including Midwest Bank and Trust Co of Elmwood Park, Illinois, which had $3.17 billion in assets. Yeah billions yeah sure BILLIONS. not even a billion pennies. :( we're screwed

The failures bring the year tally up to 72. Small banks are continuing to collapse at a rapid pace, with deteriorating loan portfolios that burn through their capital positions.

Bank failures are expected to peak in the third quarter of this year, but regulators have recently said conditions are easing with some small banks raising significant capital and averting failure.

Besides Midwest Bank and Trust, the FDIC announced the closings of:

* Satilla Community Bank of Saint Marys, Georgia, with about $135.7 million in total assets. Ameris Bank assumes its deposits;

* New Liberty Bank of Plymouth, Michigan, with $109.1 million in assets. Bank of Ann Arbor assumes its deposits;

* Southwest Community Bank of Springfield, Missouri, with $96.6 million in assets. Simmons First National Bank of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, assumes its deposits.

The total number of bank failures this year is supposed to exceed last year's count of 140. In 2008, 25 banks failed, and only three failed in 2007.

The recovery of community banks has lagged the more rapid bounceback of large financial firms and the economy overall.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair has argued that the large banks are enjoying disproportionately low funding costs because they are still perceived as too big to fail.

Such a perception can cause deposits to migrate from smaller banks to larger ones.

Regulators hope measures in the financial reform bill, including a process to dismantle insolvent financial giants, will help level the playing field.

The FDIC will provide an update of the health of the banking industry on Thursday when it holds its briefing on first-quarter earnings.

The agency will also update the number of institutions on its troubled bank list.

The number of problem U.S. banks jumped 27 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009 to 702, the highest level since 1993.

The majority of the banks on that list do not fail, but it is an indicator of the depth of the industry's woes.

(Reporting by Karey Wutkowski and Richard Cowan; Editing by Bernard Orr)